


First roots as winter falls

by laughingpineapple



Category: Myst Series
Genre: Diary/Journal, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-21
Updated: 2012-12-21
Packaged: 2017-11-21 22:09:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/602608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laughingpineapple/pseuds/laughingpineapple
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Catherine's early journal on Myst, as she still waits to call it home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First roots as winter falls

**Author's Note:**

  * For [betweenthebliss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/betweenthebliss/gifts).



It's cold these mornings. I gave up on sandals the other day and brushed a layer of a rubbery pitch on my new boots to keep my toes dry as I fetch the usual jars of water for the purification system.

There is a welcome peace waiting for me in these morning walks. Some good I did not know I missed. I am looking for an answer on this island that is meant for me alone, but I fear that it may be covered by brume, or by the scent of pine trees.

 

~/~

 

Atrus and Anna have completed their astronomical survey – for now. Their skygazing thirst is barely quenched and I watch with interest as they take their equipment back inside, counting the days until they colonize the cliff again.

I helped checking their data against Myst's Descriptive Book: we are not yet halfway through this Age's autumn. I do not know how much longer I'll go out in the morning.

 

~/~

 

This island is not mine & I am not hers.

 

~/~

 

I wanted to believe, deep down, that writing a refuge would give me ties to a land in the way that my blood never did. Anna dances on the shore; I tried to join her steps, but I am still a stranger. There is a disjoint between my feet and the ground that is only absent in my dreams.

 

~/~

 

Myst is just a place. I was wrong. To claim – not ownership as a writer of worlds, but an intimacy, a stronger kinship than with my homeland or the oppressing corridors of D'ni, would mean to grant Gehn the same privilege with the Ages he once ruled.

And with the one that is still under his grip.

 

~/~

 

Wrong again. I have roots. To love Atrus is such an easy task and I can see that Anna welcomes me as the friend and daughter she never had. They are my starting point. We are all exiles here. Their footprints will sow this earth, in time, and my heart will follow.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> A small treat for a fellow Myst fan! Catherine's complicated relationship with her homeland has always fascinated me, so that's what I latched onto while reading your prompts. I hope that the pre-Myst time span is fine and that this feels at least a little like her. Happy Yuletide!


End file.
